Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, has urged Nigerians to pay more attention to local elections in their domain during next year’s general and successive elections in Nigeria.
He stated that rather than put all focus on the central elections and who becomes the next president, it was important that Nigerians divert their attention to elections in their Local Government Areas, Local Council Development Areas, State House of Assembly, and that of federal lawmakers.
He made this known at the annual lecture of The Niche with the theme, ‘2023 elections and the future of Nigeria’s democracy’, held at the MUSON Centre, Onikan, Lagos State on Thursday.
He said those saddled with responsibility of ensuring Nigerians enjoy dividends of democracy are those in local elective offices and as such, the people must be interested in local elections as against more attention being paid to central elections.
He said contrary to insinuations and opposition, the democracy system of government delivers more dividends to Nigerians than any other system of government in the country.
He further stated that Nigerians are faced with another choice in 2023 and it behooves them to choose rightly during next year’s election in strengthening the nation’s democracy.